Swirly dress success

Remember the party dress for my niece I shared with you last month?

Well I thought it would be nice to show some pics of the delighted recipient.  

I'm so pleased I took the trouble to make it for her.  Seeing her little face gives a different meaning to handmade gifts.  x

Upcycled coasters for Christmas

I picked up two sets of cork coasters from my local op shop, to recover with childrens book pages for Christmas gifts

Before:

The two books chosen this time - a damaged Beatrix Potter book from the op shop, which had been coloured in by a kiddy at some point. And a vintage Red Riding Hood book, written in Spanish, given to me by my friend moving overseas, she had already cut it up to use pictures in a craft project of her own.



Choosing images from the books, tracing around coasters, and cutting, gluing, glazing...


And here they are





Two Christmas gifts complete, tied with ribbons from my craft box. They are being sent to the UK tomorrow!

Christmas wreath

Well I've finally made something Christmassy!

This wreath uses an oasis ring as the base and has Conifer branches to cover it with ivy and ivy berries (sprayed gold) as a decoration.

I also used some orange slices and cinnamon quills to decorate it, but the principal of the decorations is the same for whatever you want to use.
There's a full guide on my blog, with lots of pictures!

Vintage Teacup Candles

The other day I thought I'd have a go at turning my vintage teacups into candles. I've never tried any form of candlemaking before, and was pleasantly suprised by both the finished result, and how easy it was. I can feel a bit of a Christmas production line coming on.........

To begin with pop a pan of water on the hob to boil, place the wax pellets into a metal mixing bowl (you could also use glass) and place the mixing bowl  over the pan of water.  Once the water had started boiling, I turned it down to a simmer and the heat began working it's magic on the wax pellets in the bowl. Within a few minutes, they go from white, to a clear liquid as they melt.

Whilst the wax melts, cut the wick to the required length, dip one end in the molten wax and push it into the little metal "wick retainer". Hold for a few seconds so the wax sets and the wick should now be held pretty securely within the wick retainer. Put a couple of teaspoons of the molten wax in the base of the teacup and push the wick retainer into it. (mind your fingers as the wax is still hot!) The wick should now be "set" into the base of the teacup.

In preparation for pouring the wax into the teacup, the wick needs to be held straight and upright whilst the wax sets.  To achieve this I wedged the wick between two knives, but tying it around a knitting needle would probably work as well. I guess it depends on how much wick you have left to play with and what you find easiest.

Once the wax is melted and ready to pour into the teacup,  you could add some scent or essential oil to the wax to perfume your finished candle. The kit that I had bought had a little bottle of cinnamon scented essence included.  Perfect for Christmas! But I guess you could add most essential oils, (lavender, ylang ylang, patchouli, citrus to name but a few) and tailor it to whatever occasion, mood or preference you like. It is best to add it JUST before you pour the wax into the teacup (give it a qquick stir), since the perfume evaporates whilst it is in contact with the hot wax.  As soon as it is poured and begins to set, it "locks" the perfume in.

It's probably a good idea at this stage to carefully transfer the molten wax to a jug to make it easier to pour (especially if you're as accident prone as I am!). The kit instructions said to fill 3/4 and allow to set for 30mins, then top up with the rest of the wax.
I'll admit I'm impatient and ended up pouring the whole lot in at once, so my finished candle dipped in the middle a bit, with no wax left over to level it.

Click to enlarge

It's then a question of leaving it to set for 24 hours, and it's ready to light, or wrap up and give as a gift (if you can bear to part with it!) You could glue the cup to the saucer to secure it or keep them as two seperate parts. I can't decide, as it feels wrong to put superglue on something so pretty. Overall, I'm pretty chuffed with my first attempt. My imagination is now running away with me, thinking or all the other things I can stick a wick in and fill with wax.............

http://portialawrie.blogspot.com/

Gifts for the book lover

I am a great book lover and I know many book lovers. This is why I decided to make some of these fun bags for the book lovers in my life. For more ideas check out my Pinterest board.








This book bag can be a bit difficult to figure out so here is a couple of other tutorials I found for you:

• How to make a book purse by Lois Wade on WikiHow


• How to make a handbag out of a recycled book on Curbly

More ideas for the book lover

• Turn Old Paperbacks into Custom Hardbacks on ohdeedoh


• DIY Concrete bookend from Chez Larsson on TheBeatThatMyHeartSkipped

Some of my other gift tutorials on Grey Duckling

1. Gifts for the Gardener
2. Gifts for the Musician
3. Gifts for the Seamstress
4. Gifts for the Navigator
5. Gifts for Advent Calender
6. Gifts for the Book Lover

"Look up at the sky and count the stars . . ."

Hi all! I'm Becca from http://becca-knithappens.blogspot.com/. It's now December and I've finally got round to doing something creative for Christmas. Hooray!

I spent the best part of yesterday afternoon leisurely making these minimum effort (but nevertheless cute) Christmas cards. A bit of cutting, sticking and paper layering. I only used white card, a bit of green, a bit of orange, and one magazine. Oh, and a trusty Stanley knife.



I found that the more I limited myself with materials, the more creative I was. And, each one's different so it didn't get too humdrum. I found http://www.biblegateway.com/ really helpful for the insides - I just searched 'stars' for some lovely verses, but of course, that's up to you.


This was super easy to do, and fun too. And now I can kid myself I'm more organised for Christmas than I really am! Great.

Hope this was helpful, happy crafting!

Pyjama party

After Karen's post on some gorgeous warm pyjamas, it's funny as that's what I've been concentrating on. I wish I had a source of cheap fabric, but got mine on-line, opting for cotton lawn (not particularly cosy for winter!) I made three sets of PJs with a matching camisole for my three girlfriends ...perhaps we should have a sleepover (when it's warmer ??!)

The PJ bottoms have all got heart shaped pockets...

Bottoms tie up with ribbon. The camisole pattern is taken from a fab Japanese pattern book (Camisole & one piece patterns), more info on my blog. It's quick to make & as I'm not 100% sure of sizing it'll be loose & adjustable.

And to add to the nightwear theme, I've also made my Mum a nice long cotton nightie

using this pattern from the 70s & acquired from Ebay. Happy crafting everyone !